Raphael drawing for Vatican frescoes set to fetch record £16 million at sale

Tuesday 20 October 2009 06:50 BST

"Exceptional": Head of a Muse

A study by the Renaissance master Raphael for one of his frescoes in the Vatican is set to smash records when it is sold next month.

Christie's experts believe it could sell for double the £8.1million record price for an Old Master drawing, set by Michelangelo's The Risen Christ in 2000.

The auction house has put an estimate of £12million to £16million on the Raphael, which has not been seen in public for a quarter of a century or at auction for 150 years. Its value lies in its connection with the frescoes in the Papal rooms of the Vatican, considered to be the artist's greatest masterpiece. The A4-size drawing, entitled Head of a Muse, relates to the third muse to the right of Apollo in Parnassus, the third of the four Stanza della Segnatura frescoes, painted between 1508 and 1511.

Benjamin Peronnet, of Christie's, said: "This truly exceptional drawing offers us a glimpse into the working mind of a genius."

Head of a Muse has been in the collections of the painter Sir Thomas Lawrence and then the future King William II of Holland. It goes on sale on 8 December.